CALVARY wins independent jury award at the Berlin Film Festival

Calvary’s Road to victory

The independent Ecumenical Jury at the Berlin International Film Festival has named John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary as Best Film in the Panorama strand.

John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary , which stars Brendan Gleeson, Kelly Reilly, Chris O’Dowd, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Domhnall Gleeson and Killian Scott, is the blackly comic tale of a good priest who is faced with sinister and troubling circumstances brought about by a mysterious member of his parish.

The film had its European premiere at the Berlinale last week in the Panorama Special section, straight off the back of its major success at Sundance in the US, where worldwide rights for the film were bought by Fox Searchlight.

Irish audiences will have an opportunity to see Calvary – which was filmed entirely on location in county Sligo – when it is released in Irish cinemas in April this year.

Calvary is an Octagon Films and Reprisal Films production, presented by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) and the BFI in association with LipSync Productions. International sales are being handled by Protagonist Pictures.